MARINES BOOST DRONE PROGRAM

A video screen grab of a demonstration flight in late January at Twentynine Palms of the Marine Corps' newest drone. The Integrator, a small tactical surveillance drone, is expected to join the fleet in 2013.

A video screen grab of a demonstration flight in late January at Twentynine Palms of the Marine Corps' newest drone. The Integrator, a small tactical surveillance drone, is expected to join the fleet in 2013.

A U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator aircraft assigned to the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron, 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing, flies over a range in Nevada, Sept. 6, 2007, while being filmed by a video production team for the Air Force recruiting campaign, “Do Something Amazing.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Scott Reed/Released)

A U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator aircraft assigned to the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron, 432nd Air Expeditionary Wing, flies over a range in Nevada, Sept. 6, 2007, while being filmed by a video production team for the Air Force recruiting campaign, “Do Something Amazing.” (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Scott Reed/Released)

The MQ-9 Reaper taxis into Creech Air Force Base Tuesday. This marks a historic day for the MQ-9 Reaper, as it was the first operational airframe of it’s kind to land at Creech. This Reaper is the first of many to be assigned to the 42nd Attack Squadron..(U.S Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr.).(Released)

The MQ-9 Reaper taxis into Creech Air Force Base Tuesday. This marks a historic day for the MQ-9 Reaper, as it was the first operational airframe of it’s kind to land at Creech. This Reaper is the first of many to be assigned to the 42nd Attack Squadron..(U.S Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Larry E. Reid Jr.).(Released)

Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 4 (VMU-4) unveiled the RQ-7B Shadow on Sept. 29, 2010 in Yuma, Ariz. The Shadow is the first of its kind to be fully owned and operated by the United States Marine Corps, flying under the command of Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 4. (AP Photo/The Yuma Sun, Craig Fry)

Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 4 (VMU-4) unveiled the RQ-7B Shadow on Sept. 29, 2010 in Yuma, Ariz. The Shadow is the first of its kind to be fully owned and operated by the United States Marine Corps, flying under the command of Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 4. (AP Photo/The Yuma Sun, Craig Fry)

As the Marine Corps cuts about 10 percent of its forces in the next few years, it is adding personnel to its four drone squadrons and may create a fifth.

A new occupation specialty will lead to the first dedicated Marine officer corps for unmanned systems, to work in conjunction with full-time drone operators from the enlisted ranks.

And the Corps last year approved an urgent request from Marine battle commanders who wanted a weaponized drone of their own to shoot down insurgents burying roadside bombs.

Unmanned aerial vehicles “are the mantra that everybody is talking about now. It’s cheaper, it’s more efficient and it gives us consistent on-station time that manned aircraft do not,” Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, head of Marine aviation, said during a visit to San Diego last month. “You cannot completely take away manned aircraft. That will probably be some time in the future before technology develops to that point, but we’re getting there.”

The Marine Corps is a bit player in the military’s overall drone program, which is dominated by the Predator, Reaper and Gray Eagle drones made by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in San Diego and the Global Hawk made by Northrop Grumman in Rancho Bernardo.

But the investment by the smallest branch of the armed services, and one that has traditionally weighted its budget toward infantry manpower, is a sign of the times as the unmanned segment of military aviation grows exponentially in number of aircraft, cost and mission responsibilities.

The Corps’ latest drone project is the RQ-21A Integrator, which buzzed over the Twentynine Palms Marine base on its maiden tactical voyage this year. Despite its small size — it has a 16-foot wingspan — the unmanned aircraft under development by Insitu, a Boeing subsidiary, is among a technologically powerful new generation of UAVs for the military.

On a recent day, the Integrator’s launch team ratcheted back the catapult and shot the drone into the sky. The aircraft cruised over the undulating desert landscape at 63 mph and then spun to a stop in midair, its wing hooked on a high-tension wire suspended from a receiving tower.

This unique mechanism will enable the Marines to fly the aircraft while underway on amphibious ships after it joins the fleet in fiscal 2013, adding a new mission for drones that have been used extensively in recent years to protect ground-combat forces in Afghanistan.

After spending most of his career flying F/A-18 Hornet attack jets, Lt. Col. Timothy Burton now commands VMU-3, which was established in 2008 and is one of two drone squadrons based at the Twentynine Palms Marine combat center.

Last year, the squadron deployed to Afghanistan with a force then numbering less than 200 Marines and flew a record 30,000-plus hours, using Shadow drones developed for the Army and the smaller ScanEagles contracted from Insitu that the Integrator will replace.